General Disney Princess Discussion

How the fuck is Ariel standing up?

edited 6th May '14 12:16:14 PM by NoName999

I smell magic in the air. Or maybe barbecue.

She's floating. Somehow.

The Protomen enhanced my life.

The same way Water Pokemon float in the air during 3D battles.

Ariel's a Water Pokemon

The Protomen enhanced my life.

Moveset: Surf, Dive, Sing, and Transform.

No no, Ariel gets Surf, Dive, Sing, and Wish at first

However, she forgets Dive in order to learn Transform.

That's better. Or maybe she also forgets Sing?

What's that? Your Ariel is evolving!

edited 8th May '14 4:40:19 PM by Tuckerscreator

So what stats have increased or decreased?

And can she learn waterfall or aqua tail?

edited 9th May '14 1:33:45 AM by thebiggestloser

Maybe instead of an evolution, Ariel will have a Mermaid Forme and a Human Forme. In Mermaid Forme, she could learn things like Sing, Dive, and Aqua Tail but will forget Stomp and various kick-type moves. The opposite will happen in Human Forme.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/article_history.php?article=DeconstructedTrope.AnimatedFilms

The Brave example seems pretty mean-spirited even if it's true. :\ (I haven't seen it so I'm not sure)

The Protomen enhanced my life.

Yeah, that entry looks like it could need some work.

Would a (true) action-oriented Disney Princess look something like this? [1]

(Note the main character's name.)

Oh snap, I just learned that Game Grumps is in the middle of that game!

I feel like reviving this conversation (not that it's been quiet for long). Got a few things on my mind.

1. So Maleficent is out and getting extremely mixed reviews. One common complaint from people who have panned it is that it blatantly contradicts Sleeping Beauty while claiming to be the true version of events, and thus comes across as insulting to fans of the original. And we also have a live-action Cinderella due out next year. So I guess the question is: Does Disney plan to remake all their Princess movies? Maybe just the classic ones? Are they going to make a habit of these Perspective Flips? Are they going to allow the live-action versions to overshadow the animated ones?

2. I was discussing the Princesses with my friend yesterday, and one of the points that came up was that each one seems to be assigned a single iconic trait that constantly gets emphasized in merchandise, supplemental stories, etc. Snow White is pure-hearted, Cinderella's clothes transform, Aurora falls asleep, Ariel knows nothing about human society, Belle loves books, Jasmine is the Arab Princess, Pocahontas is the Native American Princess, Mulan is the Chinese Princess (noticing a pattern?), Tiana cooks, Rapunzel is the “lost princess,” Merida is a tomboy, Elsa has snow powers, and Anna is Elsa's sister. And those, for the most part, are the only aspects of these characters Disney seems interested in exploring via the Disney Princess franchise. We decided this is a gross oversimplification of the characters and that more should be done to showcase their actual personalities.

3. I've also been thinking about how difficult it is to depict Anna in abstract form. She doesn't have a single signature color—she wears a lot of green in the first act of the film, but her most iconic outfit is done in several contrasting colors (much like Snow White's). Unlike the other Princesses, there's not an easily recognizable object or emblem to associate with her. If shown an apple, a book, a fan, and a water lily, any Disney fan would associate them with Snow White, Belle, Mulan, and Tiana respectively. But Anna has nothing comparable. And as mentioned above, her one overriding trait is that she's Elsa's sister. She is defined by her relationships with other characters to a greater extent than any other Princess.

Any thoughts?

edited 28th Jun '14 6:44:34 AM by Karalora

Anna's twin braids are something that no other princess has design wise.

The Crystal Caverns A bird's gotta sing.

Anna's overriding trait of Elsa's sister is probably just the result of Elsa being super popular.

I mean, Anna is clearly reckless and wears her emotions on her sleeves.

The merch always oversimplified things...sadly. It's an insult to the actual characters. Anna is not the first princess who wears multiple colours, I guess they will settle on one or two like they did with Ariel. And concerning the symbols...I wouldn't associate Jasmine with a water lily and Mulan with a fan. I associate:

Snow White with the apple, pigeons and her iconic high collar

Cinderella with the glass shoe, a clock and her iconic hair band

Aurora with red roses, the spindle and her shawl

Ariel with her fork, her voice and her fish tail

Belle with books, dandelions (I honestly don't get why she is always portrayed with red roses, the rose belongs to the beast, the movie clearly connects her with dandelions) and her iconic hair-do

Jasmine with, well, jasmine, the carpet and her ear rings

Pocahontas with flying leaves, a compass and her necklace

Mulan with her sword, her medal and the short hair

Tiana with a frog, her spoon and her bun

Rapunzel with her frying pan, the magic flower, her paintbrush and perhaps her long hair (but I actually think she is short haired very cute, too, so no preference there)

Merida with her bow (as useless as it is during the movie), a bear and her flying hair

And Anna and Elsa (though they are not officially added)...Well, there are snow flakes and ice crystals...ice skates...but yeah, otherwise it's pretty hard to connect them with anything aside from an open door.

edited 8th Jun '14 2:48:58 PM by Swanpride

Considering how well Frozen merch is doing by itself at the moment, it could be a while before they decide to officially add Anna and Elsa to the lineup.

Looking for some stories?

Neither would I. I said that was for Tiana, not Jasmine.

And the point was less "These are the images everyone free-associates with these characters" and more "Shown these particular images, no one who's into Disney would have any trouble identifying which Princesses were being symbolized." And I just can't think of anything that would apply to Anna. Her two braids are a unique design element, but they're not really objects—they're part of her body. And unlike Ariel's fish tail or Rapunzel's 70 feet of hair, they're not really part of the story.

I don't think the reviews for Maleficent even matter, it's making money. Plus there's news that they have a director for their live action Beauty And The Beast. So looks we be getting all the classics remade.

I've seen Anna associated with hearts a few times. Considering how essential love is to her story, I'd say that fits.

Looking for some stories?

A snowman is her item?

One of the official Frozen flash games used the Crocus flower (The official emblem of Arendelle) as Anna's symbol. I believe that could work. Sure, it represents the royal family as a whole, but Elsa already has her snowflake.

Won't surprise me. Bob Iger mentioned that Frozen is around their Top 5 most profitable franchises currently, with market researchers confirming that it could potentially pull in up to $1B next year, which puts it on the same level as Toy Story and would place it in 5th place.

I could definitely see them postponing their plans to officially add them since a major change such as this has a risk of it negatively affecting their total profits.

That said, I'm hoping that the rumors are true and that they crown Elsa as a Disney Queen rather than a Disney Princess. Disney could then use her popularity to either launch a Disney Queen line or reimagine and rename the Disney Princess so that it could officially include Queens (without implying that they're being demoted to Princess).

edited 8th Jun '14 5:58:32 PM by Servbot

And this ladies and gentlemen is why we keep getting Cars sequels.